Thursday, July 15, 2010

Faced with police violence, attacks against our resistance and the unprecedented arrests of anti-G20 demonstrators, the Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes CLAC2010 is calling on all social movements to mobilize in solidarity with the victims of the repressive machinery who have fallen into the clutches of the police.

CLAC2010 demands the immediate release of all political prisoners and that all charges be dropped against people arrested during the G20.

*Demonstration in Solidarity with the Toronto G20 Arrestees, July 17th at 1pm at Phillips Square*
Around 1090 arrests took place during the weekend of June 25-27 in Toronto, by means of kidnapping, political profiling, raids on private homes and places where people were being billeted, with violence, brutality, intimidation and harassment. This is the largest mass arrest in Canadian history, and the targets were people who were simply expressing their disagreement with the capitalist, law-and-order, sexist, colonialist and anti-social policies of the G20 and the world’s top financiers.

What we witnessed in Toronto was an attack against progressive forces denouncing the G20 and its murderous policies. This unprecedented repression, ordered by the political higher ups, was intended to silence dissent and to criminalize our social movements. These are well-known tactics used to divide people, to break resistance and to impose reactionary policies. We have reached a new stage in the intensification of police repression and in what is being demanded of the public. For instance, the Toronto chief of police wilfully lied to the public, claiming that his police officers had additional powers during the G20 (Public Works Protection Act) and exhibiting to the media various weapons allegedly “seized” from demonstrators. In fact, these “weapons” – including a machete and a chainsaw – belonged to passersby and not anti-G20 demonstrators. Lies and the suppression of human rights are the first steps towards a totalitarian state…

There are presently hundreds of people accused, amongst other things, of conspiracy to commit mischief and assault on a police officer, including 17 facing more serious charges. At present, 14 political prisoners are still languishing behind bars and are being held responsible for everything that happened in the streets during the G20 Summit, even though most of them were arrested before the demonstrations even began. In case you haven’t caught on yet, there are in fact political prisoners in Canada!

CLAC2010 denounces this strategic and political repression and is loud and clear in declaring its solidarity with everyone arrested during the G20 and especially the 14 people who remain incarcerated pending their bail hearings. We demand the immediate release of all political prisoners and that all charges against the G20 arrestees be immediately dropped. We invite you to join us in a solidarity demonstration with the Toronto arrestees, on July 17, 2010, at 1pm at Phillips Square – to demand their release, that all charges be dropped, and to reaffirm our legitimate right to political dissent.

We will not accept the criminalization of dissent
We will not be silent in the face of political repression
Free our comrades!

WE DEMAND!
• That all charges be dropped
• Immediate freedom for the G20 political prisoners